Raptors Look to Pile onto Clippers' Early Struggles

By NBA Stat Desk How we produce articles

Toronto's balanced attack gets the edge over a Clippers team that has lost four straight.

TOR @ LAC Nov 3, 2026 at 3:00 AM UTC

The Clippers enter at 1-4 and have lost four in a row, the latest to the Thunder. Early-season records can mislead, but a four-game skid leaves little evidence that Los Angeles has settled into a rhythm, even at home.

Toronto comes in at 3-2 and sits fourth in the East, behind Boston and Philadelphia. Scottie Barnes is the focal point. One report has him scoring a career-high 41 points, with five rebounds, five assists and two steals, in an NBA Cup game against Orlando. Accounts conflict on that game's outcome, and a Yahoo preview lists a 129-99 Raptors win, so I would not lean on the result. The scoring ceiling is still worth noting for a team that needs Barnes to carry the offense.

The Raptors also showed they can score without him. Four players reached double figures in that game, and Immanuel Quickley added 17 points and eight assists. Murray-Boyles, Poeltl, Barrett and Walter filled out the supporting cast. That depth matters against a Clippers frontcourt with defined roles: Brook Lopez and Isaiah Jackson at center, Derrick Jones Jr. as a defensive specialist and Rui Hachimura as an offensive specialist. Those roles can force tradeoffs, since the Clippers may gain on one end whenever they lose something on the other.

Toronto has more ways to score and arrives in better form. Expect Barnes and Quickley to create enough advantages for the Raptors to hold off a Clippers team still searching for its first win in over a week.

Prediction: Raptors 116, Clippers 108.

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